University of Illinois researchers say corn response to sulfur may be more common than in the past.

While much of the attention in the crop markets has been focused on wheat and corn, soybean prices have shown strength even while trading in a wide range during the past 2 months.

The more recent strength in corn prices is related to concerns that the U.S. average yield may fall short of the USDA’s August 12 forecast of 165 bushels.

If the 2010 growing season was any indication, disease management needs to be one of the top things on growers’ lists if they are going to have a great wheat crop, says an Ohio State University Extension plant pathologist.

A machine that can inject dry poultry litter and composted cattle manure below the soil surface in pastures and no-till fields is on order from a research coalition across five Chesapeake Bay states: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. There are currently no machines on the market that can do this.

The risk of foliar disease pressure in some fields may be higher this year due to the current wet, humid weather on top of extra disease inoculums from the cool, wet years of 2008 and 2009.

A new way to make topographic maps could help farmers use variable-rate fertilizer application to maximize returns, says James McKinion, a USDA scientist.

Persistent rains and wet soil conditions have no-tillers wondering about the advisability of planting corn versus soybean after mid-June.

Jeff Housman, Mycogen Seeds customer agronomist, advises growers to consider all factors before deciding to replant to determine whether the yield advantage of a replanted field will offset the added cost and the lower yield potential of the first planting.

Like the swallows that return to Capistrano, it seems that purpling in young corn returns every year somewhere, says Bob Nielsen, Purdue University corn agronomist.